Lacey's Goat Fund Me
Donation protected
Hello! I am Lacey, an aspiring artisan cheesemaker and farmstead owner. I discovered this amazing artisan goat cheese farmstead operation, Winter Winds Farm, 4 years ago, while running the cheese department at the Village Boise Co-op, in Meridian, ID. I was researching Idaho cheese makers to bring into the store to showcase the wonderful and delicious cheeses made across my home state and found them. Winter Winds Farm is located in Victor, ID on the boarder of Idaho and Wyoming, nestled in a valley with beautiful mountain ranges, currently cares for 73 goats and produces amazing cheeses.
Cheese was not my first career. I spent the first 10 years of my professional life working with children with special needs, mostly through a play-based intervention, in Idaho and in the Seattle area. While working in Seattle, I also managed a farmer’s market booth for a local bakery and was exposed to the community that surrounds farmers and the sharing of foods grown/made with intention, love and care. When life took me back to Idaho, this time to the Boise area, I was ready to try something new and food related, hopefully diving into the passionate community surrounding farmers and farmers markets. A friend suggested working for the Boise Co-op because they were opening a second store. I did and my life in cheese took off. When I started, I knew I loved to eat cheese, I knew some varieties and had favorites from the Washington area. I quickly started studying cheese, through books and taste testing, and making cheese at home. Living in an apartment, I stuck to the fresh varieties, mostly ricotta and fresh mozzarella.
My good friend and partner in cheese, Dorota and I spent a week with the crew at Rogue Creamery, in Oregon, making blue cheese and learning about their operation. After that, I was hooked on cheesemaking. I visited most of the Idaho cheesemakers that we carried at the Co-op, learning about their operations and making cheese with them if time allowed.
Dorota and I also applied to take the only cheese professional certification, at that time, in the United States, the American Cheese Society’s Certified Cheese Professional exam. We were accepted, studied for 5 months and passed in July 2018! In February 2018, I was exploring the ACS website and learned Winter Winds Farm was for sale. In April 2018, I went to the farm for the first time and met the goats. It was kidding season, and I immediately upon arrival witnessed the magic of the kidding, with kids just born in the birthing barn with their mamas and twins popping out when I walked through the door. Amazing!
Throughout the rest of 2018, I ventured out to the farm to start learning the very basics; feeding, milking, I did a few cheese makes with Nathan, and at the start of this year, I learned utter shaving and nail trimming (Goat Spa Day) with his wife, Ginny. Since I first came out to the farm, I knew I wanted to make the dream of owning Winter Winds Farm a reality.
I moved to Victor, ID over memorial weekend this year, and I have been living on the farm for the last 6 weeks, continuing to learn caring for the goats, making cheese and selling the cheese at the farmer’s markets in the surrounding area. The community has been wonderfully welcoming both at the farmer’s markets and in Teton Valley. I have never felt more at home in new place. And the goats are the sweetest; greeting me whenever I leave my camper (my door faces an area next to their feeder) and if I leave for a few days they come to the fence for cheek rubs and head scratches when I return.
The money I am trying to raise thru my Goat Fund Me will be used to help me in owning Winter Winds Farm; specifically, with loan down payments, first year operational costs and a few immediate upgrades in the creamery: we could use a hood vent for the smoker, a cheese wire cutter for portioning pieces, a cream separator to make caramel making easier and a few other odds and ends to improve efficiency.
Thank you for reading my Goat Fund Me and helping me spread the word of this cheese making, goat raising, life changing adventure! I will post updates here and you can also follow along via Instagram @thecheesewhey and soon read about them…blog coming…
Cheese was not my first career. I spent the first 10 years of my professional life working with children with special needs, mostly through a play-based intervention, in Idaho and in the Seattle area. While working in Seattle, I also managed a farmer’s market booth for a local bakery and was exposed to the community that surrounds farmers and the sharing of foods grown/made with intention, love and care. When life took me back to Idaho, this time to the Boise area, I was ready to try something new and food related, hopefully diving into the passionate community surrounding farmers and farmers markets. A friend suggested working for the Boise Co-op because they were opening a second store. I did and my life in cheese took off. When I started, I knew I loved to eat cheese, I knew some varieties and had favorites from the Washington area. I quickly started studying cheese, through books and taste testing, and making cheese at home. Living in an apartment, I stuck to the fresh varieties, mostly ricotta and fresh mozzarella.
My good friend and partner in cheese, Dorota and I spent a week with the crew at Rogue Creamery, in Oregon, making blue cheese and learning about their operation. After that, I was hooked on cheesemaking. I visited most of the Idaho cheesemakers that we carried at the Co-op, learning about their operations and making cheese with them if time allowed.
Dorota and I also applied to take the only cheese professional certification, at that time, in the United States, the American Cheese Society’s Certified Cheese Professional exam. We were accepted, studied for 5 months and passed in July 2018! In February 2018, I was exploring the ACS website and learned Winter Winds Farm was for sale. In April 2018, I went to the farm for the first time and met the goats. It was kidding season, and I immediately upon arrival witnessed the magic of the kidding, with kids just born in the birthing barn with their mamas and twins popping out when I walked through the door. Amazing!
Throughout the rest of 2018, I ventured out to the farm to start learning the very basics; feeding, milking, I did a few cheese makes with Nathan, and at the start of this year, I learned utter shaving and nail trimming (Goat Spa Day) with his wife, Ginny. Since I first came out to the farm, I knew I wanted to make the dream of owning Winter Winds Farm a reality.
I moved to Victor, ID over memorial weekend this year, and I have been living on the farm for the last 6 weeks, continuing to learn caring for the goats, making cheese and selling the cheese at the farmer’s markets in the surrounding area. The community has been wonderfully welcoming both at the farmer’s markets and in Teton Valley. I have never felt more at home in new place. And the goats are the sweetest; greeting me whenever I leave my camper (my door faces an area next to their feeder) and if I leave for a few days they come to the fence for cheek rubs and head scratches when I return.
The money I am trying to raise thru my Goat Fund Me will be used to help me in owning Winter Winds Farm; specifically, with loan down payments, first year operational costs and a few immediate upgrades in the creamery: we could use a hood vent for the smoker, a cheese wire cutter for portioning pieces, a cream separator to make caramel making easier and a few other odds and ends to improve efficiency.
Thank you for reading my Goat Fund Me and helping me spread the word of this cheese making, goat raising, life changing adventure! I will post updates here and you can also follow along via Instagram @thecheesewhey and soon read about them…blog coming…
Organizer
Lacey McNeff
Organizer
Victor, ID
